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Ambroise Paré is renowned as the father of modern surgery. In obstetrics, Paré pioneered a new way of turning an infant in the uterus. He also made significant advancements in the treatment of hernias, the fitting of artificial limbs and eyes, and devised a new instrument to reduce hemorrhage after amputation. As with much of his work, the Methode Curative was widely distributed and reached a large audience. Long considered a classic text on the treatment of head wounds, this book contains 74 woodcuts, many hand-colored and adapted from the corpus of Vesalius. The first section, devoted to the anatomy of the head, is illustrated with woodcuts. The anatomical engravings were modified from the woodcuts of Vesalius and completed by the talented Jean le Royer, King’s Printer. The second part of the book details the treatment of head wounds, skull fractures and diseases of the face. Included in this section are drawings of surgical instruments, many fashioned by Paré himself. The book contains the woodcut portrait by Jean Cousin, printed in an oval surrounded by Paré’s motto, “Labor improbus omnia vincit” (hard work conquers all). It is bound in limp vellum, with a gold-tooled vignette on the cover...READ MORE

The French druggist Pierre Pomet devotes a section of his comprehensive history of drugs to bezoars, explaining that the stones appear in the stomachs of cows, apes, and goats. Pomet's goat leaps over a bezoar, sliced open like a geode to reveal its efficacious core. Pomet argues that this bezoar, produced in the belly of a high-leaping wild goat common in the East Indies, would promote sweat and drive away malignant humors. We'd wager Monsieur Pomet, apothecary to Louis XIV, could give even Snape a run for his wand in a battle of the Potion-Masters.

Early modern naturalists frequently relied on seafarers' tales of ocean voyages to augment their knowledge of sea life. The French surgeon Ambroise Paré's work included the figures of the monkfish and the bishop fish, which, apart from their fin-like arms and abundance of scales, resembled human clergyman. High-Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge might have referred to the mer-people and centaurs in Paré's book as "half-breeds"— creatures that were isolated, because of their hybrid forms, from the wizarding community.

If you visit Mr. Mulpepper's or Slug & Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley, among the remedies available for a few scant Galleons is unicorn horn. In his comprehensive catalog of plants and animals used for medicinal purposes, the French apothecary Pierre Pomet identifies five species of unicorns, though he is quick to admit that most unicorn horns sold in shops are probably from narwhals. Narwhal or not, these horns were worn as protective amulets, used to cure fevers and rout poisons. They were also displayed as curiosities in pre-Revolution-era France.

Anatomist, surgeon, and inventor Ambroise Paré's collected works, first published in 1575, offer illustrations of many medical anomalies along with strange and exotic creatures. Among them, Paré singles out dragons, placing all bets on these fierce, fantastical creatures in theoretical battles with elephants and birds of prey. Paré writes, "Pliny saith, that there are Dragons found in Aethiopia of ten Cubits long, but that in India there are Dragons of an hundred foot long, that fly so high, that they fetch Birds, and take their prey even from the midst of the clouds." With such a range of species, we're happy Hagrid's egg hatched the Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert, who, despite some destructive tendencies, was a pretty swell guy.

Expecto Patronum! The French apothecary Pierre Pomet writes that the very bones of deer could "revive the Spirits expel Melancholy, and help the Palpitation of the Heart." All three Potters—Harry, father James, and mother Lily have the fleet-footed deer patronus in common (James is also a stag, while Lily is a doe). No wonder the appearance of Harry's agile animal spirit and guardian steadied him during his face-offs with the most evil wizard of all time.